


Tony Wyzek: Blind Vigilante

by reader1718



Category: West Side Story (1961)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-29
Updated: 2015-01-29
Packaged: 2018-03-09 14:30:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3253238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reader1718/pseuds/reader1718





	Tony Wyzek: Blind Vigilante

Tony Wyzek: Blind Vigilante

(a Daredevil/West Side Story Crossover fanfic)

“Bye guys! See you later!” Tony Wyzek called. He had made plans to meet with his friends later at Doc’s candy store for coffee, but unfortunately those plans never panned out. Tony had begun to head home, but he never got there. He heard voices coming from a nearby alley and went to investigate. There, he found his father’s boss—Dr. Cramer, with some hired thugs—threatening the head of one of their rival companies. “Dr. Cramer?” Tony asked, catching his attention. This turned out to have been a mistake, as Dr. Cramer turned around, saw Tony and realized he’d seen everything. He knew that if word got out about what he’d done, things could get very bad very quickly. So, he told the others to get him before Tony could tell what he’d seen. Tony took off running away from the alley as fast as he could, not looking where he was going. He was so busy trying to get away from the alley that he didn’t notice a truck loaded with toxic chemicals rushing toward him. He looked up at the last minute to see if they were following him and noticed the truck. The truck driver swerved to avoid him and ended up hitting a guardrail. One of the barrels split open and the chemical inside spilled into Tony’s eyes. Tony screamed in pain, then blacked out. One of the eyewitnesses called for an ambulance, which took Tony to the hospital, then the hospital called Tony’s parents to tell them what happened. Tony’s mother was horror stricken at what had happened and they rushed to the hospital immediately. On the way, they called Tony’s friends to tell them what happened and the boys met them at the hospital. 

When they got there, Tony was unconscious in one of the hospital rooms. The doctors were operating, trying to do all they could to restore his sight, but things weren’t looking good. His optic nerves were heavily damaged and didn’t seem to be improving. Finally, they had done all they could and wrapped his eyes in bandages. They then had to tell his parents and friends the news. “Mr. And Mrs. Wyzek, we’ve done all we can. There’s good news and bad news. The good news is that Tony will live. The bad news is that his optic nerves are very heavily damaged. Your son will never see again. He’s completely blind.” 

“What! No! It can’t be! My buddy’s blind?!” Riff cried in disbelief. “I’m sorry boys, but it’s true. He’ll never see anything again,” the doctor said. Mrs. Wyzek began to cry and Mr. Wyzek just buried his face in his hands. Riff and the other boys were speechless with shock. What they didn’t know was that in the other room Tony had awakened to find out that his remaining four senses had been heightened to a superhuman level, the world around him overloading his senses to the point where he fell out of bed onto the floor. He had heard the doctor’s pronouncement and his parents’ and friends’ reactions from his room, so he knew he was blind. He had already suspected as much from the way his eyes were burning. He heard his parents weeping down the hall and Riff was in a state of shock. Tony knew he had to accept the fact that he’d never see anything ever again for the rest of his life and having to learn to fight blind. If he could learn to fight at all, plus the torment of having to learn to read all over again. Plus, what would Bernardo and the rest of his gang say when they found out he was blind? They would know that he was out of action due to his blindness and they’d never respect the Jets again. The only respect Riff and the others had ever gotten was when the Sharks knew that Tony could pound them if they hurt his friends and now that Tony was blind, he was unable to fight. He didn’t dare rely on his enhanced hearing, sense of smell, touch and taste because he knew they compensated well enough in normal life, but not in a fight. He also didn’t want people treating him like an invalid. He would just have to live with it unless he could find a way to restore his sight. 

The next day, Tony tried to learn to get around with his cane and his new blind-man’s glasses, but because of his enhanced hearing, each car going by was like a jet taking off. It was even worse on the subway. Each day was the same: try to get around town for a bit, practice reading, be with his friends, and then do it over again the next day. It brought tears to Tony’s eyes to be so dependent on everyone else. He could also feel everyone else looking at him with such pity and it hurt. Tony hated to be pitied, because it made him feel like a burden. Bernardo didn’t yet know that Tony was blind, but all that would soon change. That was the day Riff invited Tony to a dance at the gym and Tony went, intending to just listen to the music, but instead met someone he never expected to meet. 

 

Tony arrived at the dance and stood over against the wall, listening to the nice music that was playing, for of course he couldn’t hear any of it. He didn’t even notice when a young woman approached him from across the room until she spoke to him. “Hello. Who are you?” The young woman asked, and when she didn’t get a response, she touched him on the shoulder. Tony jerked in surprise, dropping his cane. “I’m so sorry. Do you need some help?” She asked. “Could you possibly hand me that object I just dropped? I think it fell just over there,” Tony replied. She reached onto the floor and was surprised to see a white cane lying there. She passed it to him and gasped with astonishment as she realized something she hadn’t before. “Oh my gosh! You’re blind!” She cried, surprised. Then, of course, she wanted to know how it had happened, and Tony ended up telling his whole story again. Then Bernardo came over and grew angry at Tony for being with his sister. Tony pleaded ignorance, which in his case was true, since he was blind. Bernardo didn’t realize that right away, though, and finally Tony got mad. “Listen, Bernardo. I didn’t know she was your sister, okay? I couldn’t even see her. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m blind!” Tony said angrily. Bernardo didn’t believe him, though, and ripped Tony’s glasses off to look right in his eyes. That was when he realized Tony’s eyes didn’t even react to the light. In fact, they had a glazed kind of look to them. Bernardo waved his hand in front of Tony’s eyes and Tony didn’t even flinch. Bernardo suddenly realized that Tony had been telling the truth—he really was blind. Naturally he hadn’t known who he was talking to until Bernardo had said something about it. Tony promised to try to stay away from her in the future, and Bernardo was satisfied, leaving Tony alone after that. 

Tony realized he had to get control of his newfound powers or he would be unable to go outside or get around the city ever again. So he began training on a rooftop, practicing “seeing” with his radar sense. He soon discovered he could use it to “see” with more clarity than a sighted person could, plus being able to tell if someone was lying by slight changes in their heartbeat. He could identify his surroundings by using his enhanced senses of touch and taste. He could soon watch his friends fight their gang battles and follow each and every blow. It meant that he could now actually get around without having to depend on other people. It was a thrilling moment when he realized that. 

Soon Tony was again among the toughest kids in the neighborhood. Kids from all over the city knew he was one blind kid they did not want to mess with. Then one day Tony read in his Braille copy of the New York Times that a doctor at a clinic in Westchester that had developed a way to restore a blind person’s sight. Now Tony had a decision to make. He’d been blind for almost a year now. Could he really go back to being sighted again after being blind for so long? He talked to Riff about it and Riff told him to only get the surgery if it was what he wanted, not what someone else wanted for him. Tony thought about it that night and decided he wanted to see again. So the next morning he caught the subway to the clinic and got the surgery done. When the doctor removed the bandages, everything was blurry at first, but then slowly came into focus. “Everything’s clear! I can see! I CAN SEE!” Tony shouted. “Oh thank you, Doc! Thank you!” He then raced down to the subway to head home. Riff and the others couldn’t believe it when they saw Tony without his glasses and cane running toward them. It was a happy day for all of them, and it was even happier for the Wyzeks when they saw their son coming home, no longer blind. It wasn’t good for Bernardo, though, when he found out that Tony could see again. Maria, however, was thrilled and said he looked extremely handsome. Doc offered him a job in the store and Tony was finally earning a decent living. There were some side effects, though, as some of his powers still remained. He had them under control, though, and was able to have a normal life (sort of).


End file.
